Remembrance
by Clouded-Days
Summary: One-shot. Ryou is done with high school and college is going to start soon, but he's decided he is going to move elsewhere to attend school. While packing up the cardboard boxes, he stumbles upon some things that awakens his unwanted memories... COMPLETE.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

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_It kills me now to even think of you. It kills me inside to remember you, to think of what could have happened if we didn't fall apart from each other._

_But yet I miss you so much…_

_You were closer to those 'friends' than I ever was, and you were their enemy. They never cared about me, so you were all I had. It brought me comfort to think that I could talk to you, even though your responses were weak and I could tell that sometimes you did not wish to talk… Or was I the one that wanted to be alone?_

_Was I the one that tried to hide in darkness from you?_

_We split apart. I do not truly remember all the details now… It's been so painfully long since we've actually spoken. But you are gone now. It's not like I can speak to you anymore…_

_But I regret not speaking up. I should have said how you were my closest friend, even though things weren't always so bright. I trusted you more than anyone in the world, and now it just pains me to think of how I could possibly try to replace you with anyone else…_

_I used to look forward to coming home, just so it could be us together, and I could have a chance to learn a little more about you. That's pretty much all I ever wanted. I didn't want you to change. I wanted you to remain the same, and yet I wanted to learn more about your personality, your interests…_

_But I failed somewhat in doing so. Even now, when you're gone from my sights, I did not learn all that I could. I failed to do that._

_Was it my fault? Was I too stupid, too self-centered? Is that why I lost you? Was I the cause of all the fights around me, because of my own stupid mistakes?_

_Was I just too dense to not realize it, until now?_

Ryou's hands stilled upon the diary. His pale hands were frozen, and all of a sudden, a weird feeling overflowed into his heart. Tears flooded his eyes, and he strained not to cry. He didn't want to start crying all the time like he used to…

It had been so painfully long. He had forgotten about Bakura for quite a while, but now that he remembered, he wished somewhat that he _didn't. _It hurt so badly just to think about the past…

Ryou was tempted just to close the journal and just stuff it away in the boxes like everything else. But he forced himself to go on.

_I miss you so much. Yet I wished I had learned some more… I wish I had photographs, but yet I don't. I want to remember, but yet I wish to forget because of the pain in the memories…_

Ryou wiped his eyes with his sleeve. It had been a long while since he had even been close to crying…

_You were my best friend… I just… I just hope that you realized that. I still do not know what happened to you. I do not know where you went, and what's happening to you._

_I just hope things are going well for you. I don't want for you to be in pain. You've already been through so much…_

_Time won't come back and neither will the past. I wish to see you again, but I'm scared. I'm scared of what you'll say, of what you'll think of me now. _

Ryou closed the journal then. Tears glistened in his chocolate eyes, and he took a deep breath, holding them back.

He wouldn't go back to crying.

He forced himself to his feet, before tossing the diary into one of the many cardboard boxes, most of them taped shut by now. He was moving.

It had been that time. He had kept going with his life. High school was over now, and soon college would start up. But he did not wish to keep going to school in Japan. It was filled with just too much pain… He had debated on going back to England, despite the fact he left there in the first place because of Amane and his mother dying, but he finally caved in and decided he was heading back.

Ryou sealed up another one of the boxes with the tape before settling on the couch, staring at the now bare room. He could remember doing so many things in the room… Crying, yelling, laughing, even getting hit… Soon he would forget it all.

Ryou smiled sadly to himself. It wasn't like his 'friends' would miss him much. After all, they would still have each other. Yuugi, despite Atemu's absence, still seemed the same, and he seemed a little closer to Jounouchi than before, along with the others. Ryou knew Seto would probably just remain at the Corporation. He already had his plans mapped out in front of him. Malik and Isis had left to Egypt with Rishid quite long ago… Otogi had left too…

Ryou sighed to himself, standing back up. He knew the one he missed most out of the group was Bakura, even though he knew that man the least…

Ryou collected the small book of photographs and was about to deposit it into his shoulder bag, but stopped when it flipped open.

He noticed that ever since he began carrying the Ring at nine, he smiled less. But at each picture that contained the Sennen Ring, he felt that weird sensation inside of his chest grow.

He abruptly closed the album and threw it into the bag. He couldn't take it anymore. It hurt so badly. Enough was enough.

He sighed, glancing into the mirror that was lying against one box. He had grown. He was a lot taller than that tenth grade year, skinnier; yet his face remained the same, despite the fact his hair had grown longer. He had a few scars on his wrists that had never faded, and were previously self-inflicted. He had gone through that stage when he was around fifteen, maybe sixteen… Some of the cuts had never completely faded away…

He flinched as he saw his reflection change, taking on the qualities of Bakura.

He shook his head, looking away from the mirror. He knew it was just all in his head. But it _hurt…_

Ryou slung the small bag over his shoulder and hurried towards the door to wait for the movers. They were supposed to be at the house in ten minutes…

He stopped as he noticed a scrapbook.

He picked it up, and carried it out to the front steps, not recognizing the black book. He shut the door and sat down, opening the book.

It was filled with drawings.

Tears swelled near instantly in Ryou's eyes. Some were as early as when he was nine, and as he flipped through them, they kept going until he was sixteen. Then, they stopped. The drawing fits vanished as the Ring did.

Ryou sighed, about to close the book, but stopped as a small sheet of notebook paper fell out from the back cover. Ryou closed the book and picked up the small piece of paper, folded several times. The young man slowly opened it with trembling fingertips.

'_You're so soft, Ryou, and maybe even weak… You care more about others than yourself. But you're a pretty good kid, I guess. A nice host. I know you'll never forget me. So I guess I've put this book together of the pictures you keep giving me as gifts. And now it's my gift to you. I don't know when you'll discover it, but it's a little something to remember me by, so when I do fulfill my goals and leave you, I won't be forgotten entirely._

_- Bakura.'_

Tears began falling from Ryou's chocolate eyes; he couldn't hold them in. He clutched the little black book to his chest, which apparently Bakura had constructed while in control of his body one day, and just sat there sobbing on the front steps, like he used to do when that man was still around…

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A/N: THE END.

So what did you guys think? I'm sorry about another one-shot, but I just had to write this, and it really helped me out emotion-wise. So anyway, until next time!

Much love!

-Clouded-Days.


End file.
